Serle - BT590 N2 S47 1776

368 L I G H T. feétly, .are finally to be changed into thefame Image; their Bodies being fafhioned like to his Body, from Glory to Glory, by. his own Spirit and Power. This blefï'ed Privilege was preached to the antient Be- lievers by the Urim and fhummim * upon the Breaft Plate of the High Prieft. Urim. lignifies Lights, and Ibummim, Perfections. The Names of-the twelve Tribes were written or engraved upon the precious Stones, which, both from their Splendor and Beauty, and from the divine Oracle attending them, as well as their fpiri- tuai Import, might well be called by thofe dignified Names. There is a continual Ufe made of Light, as a Metaphor, throughout the Scriptures ; but, when it is applied to Jehovah, it may ever be taken to point out the Second Perfon in Jehovah, who took our Nature upon him. He was the emphatic Light. Not the Blaze of fenable Light, not the Splendor of ten thou- fand Suns ; but, above all thefe, the Light, becaufe the Life, of all that lives, and thinks, and underftands. In a particular Manner, is he the Light, in being the High Prieft of his People. He bears their Names upon his Breaft. He is their Light, their Ur ; and they are Lights in him, the Urim of the World. They are near his Heart, and worn upon his Bofom. In his Perfec- tion, they are perfect; and among them refides his living Voice of Truth, which leads them aright by his Coun- fel, and finally brings them to his Glory. He car- ries them into the Holy of Holies, by giving them an abundant Entrance into his everlafting Kingdom. Chriftians, then, are to have Light in themfelves, though not from themfelves. Their Light is wholly derivative; and, when their Sun does not illuminate, they cannot fhine. They are indeed lively Stones, t and Stones of Fire ; t but, abftraéted from his Life and Heat, they are like the Stones of Earth, without Life * See a very learned Differtation on the Nature and Ufe of the Urim and ¶Chummim, among the antient Jews, in PIIDEAUX'S Con neáions ofthe Hijiory of the OldandNew ¶Ceftaooent. Vol. i. p. i. b. g. t rPet. ii. 5, 4 Ezek. xxviii. 14. or

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